Note 928 — Chapter XX · GOVERNMENT, SOCIAL CLASSES, PROPERTY, AND LAWS OF THE MAYA NATIONS.

'Las tierras por aora es de comun, y assi el que primero las ocupa las possee.' Landa, Relacion, p. 130. 'Las tierras eran comunes, y assi entre los Pueblos no auia terminos, ò mojones, que las dividiessen: aunque si entre vna Provincia, y otra, por causa de las guerras.' Cogolludo, Hist. Yuc., p. 180. Las Casas, in Kingsborough's Mex. Antiq., vol. viii., p. 139, speaks of boundary marks between the property of different owners. 'Les habitations était pour la plupart dispersées sans former de village.' Ternaux-Compans, in Nouvelles Annales des Voy., 1843, tom. xcvii., p. 45. 'Leur qualité de seigneurs héréditaires ne les rendait pas, pour cela, maîtres du sol ni propriétaires des habitants.' Brasseur de Bourbourg, Hist. Nat. Civ., tom. ii., pp. 56-8. 'Property was much respected (in Nicaragua); but ... no man could put up his land for sale. If he wished to leave the district, his property passed to the nearest blood relation, or, in default, to the municipality.' Boyle's Ride, vol. i., p. 274; Squier's Nicaragua, (Ed. 1856,) vol. ii., p. 345; Herrera, Hist. Gen., dec. iii., lib. iv., cap. vii.